MP Still crashes to desktop

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have been battling a problem trying to get Max Payne to work with no success. The problem is that the game keeps crashing back to the desktop. I have gone through the FAQ's and the troubleshooting information on the web and nothing seems to help.
The best Talonsoft could do was suggest I update sound drivers, something I'd already done.

The "tutorial" section of the game works fine, even at high video resolution and detail settings. When going to "new game", then "fugitive", the game nearly always crashes back to the desktop when the status bar gets just about above the "L" in "Loading" just below. A few times I've gotten to the next video sequence but it would crash while loading after that. Twice I've gotten to the first level actually playing the game, but again it crashed loading the next level. This usually happens with no errors, although a few times (out of dozens of tries) I've gotten "corrupt JPEG data" errors.

My system:

AMD Athlon 1.4 MHz
735 SiS chipset motherboard with integrated sound
256MB DDR RAM
Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS/PRO 64MB
Windows 98
Windows managed swap file
20GB WD hard drive w/2 10GB partions, each with at least 4GB free.

I have tried:

Installing updated sound and video drivers:
v21.85 for video, v6010 for sound
Installed 1.02 patch
Turning down detail settings to "medium", gone to double buffering, tried numerous video resolution settings both 16 and 32 bit; even 640x480x16 crashes.
Tried setting Windows desktop resolution both higher and lower than game resolution.
Tried running software T&L rendering instead of hardware.
Uninstalling direct CD, tried reinstalling game and running on 16x CD ROM, both have DMA disabled.
Gone through dxdiag, display tests work OK
Disabling sound, disabling sound card in both windows and in BIOS settings.
Tried "-no3dpreloads" command line switch
Reinstalling the game on different disk partion
Deleting and copying x_level files
Reinstalled Windows 98.
Shut down any extraneous Windows drivers / programs.
Installed the WHQL certified GeForce 12.41 driver

I've spent far too much time trying to get this to work and would appreciate any help you could provide.

Thanks,
Dave B.
davejb@qwest.net

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: dynodb ]

[Pepe]

Have you switched display drivers before or after trying the game?
The 21.85 detonator drivers are very buggy, try using older ones if you haven't tried already.I use 14.10, and they seem to work fine.

Also, max payne is the first game to use that engine. It is made for Max payne, and only madonions 3dmark uses it. Rune is the unreal engine.

[Guest]

Having the exact same problem. I have read... in various places ... about the following 'solutions':

1. Disable modem (!!??)
2. Issue with Geforce cards (looks like everyone knows about this one) try upgrading/downgrading drivers.
3. Issue with AGP/motherboard chipset - This one sounds most likely to/for me. I'm running WinXP on a system with a KT266A chipset. I am going to flash with the latest BIOS and install the latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers tonight. I'll let you know if this helps.

BTW... did the demo run for you? It runs fine on my system (!)

[Guest]

Thank you both for the reply. I installed the 12.41 GeForce driver, same problem. I tried disabling (but not uninstalling) both the internal sound card and the modem, no help.

My motherboard has the relatively new SiS 735 chipset; no new updates on the SiS website.

I'll try the demo; the tutorial part of the game seems to work OK.

Pepe was correct about Rune- although also published by godgames and having a very similar looking interface, it does indeed use the Unreal engine, not the Max Payne engine. Thanks for the correction.

Dave B.
davejb@qwest.net

[Maws]

Try updating your system drivers via Microsoft update. CNET catchup is good too. these fixed my problems

[Guest]

Well heres an update. Tried all sorts of things last night...
1. AGP to 2X - No help
2. Updated Via 4 in 1 - no help
3. Tried both latest Nvidia and Asus drivers for Gforce3 Ti 200 card - No help

4. Finally, on a whim, tried lowering all settings to lowest and 640x480x16 - works but sound is f**ked up... dumps out after a while.

After that I tried various combinations of settings with mixed but unnaceptable success. Wierd thing is that the demo works great with 1024x?x32 with all settings on high..!?

Oh well. Must be a driver issue with the full version. Guess I'll wait around for updates and patches.

Cheers.